Goon's World Extras

Friday, October 30, 2015

CBC News: Jets won't ban Hawks fans from wearing headdresses

I found this story to be very interesting and thought provoking. The Winnipeg Jest aren't going to ban fans from wearing Indian headdresses. So they say... We will be following this to see how it plays out. So, if the Jets decided to start banning people from the arena for wearing head dresses, would they be violating a Canadian fan's freedom of expression?

Tiar Wilson, CBC News - The staff at MTS Centre in Winnipeg will be on the lookout for fake headdresses as they let fans in for the hockey game tonight between the Winnipeg Jets and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Headdresses are not banned, but if someone arrives wearing one, "We would have a conversation with them and we would make them fully aware of the ramifications of wearing that and the cultural ramifications of it," said Scott Brown, senior director of corporate communications for True North Sports and Entertainment, the Jets owner.

This past spring when the Jets last faced the Chicago team in Winnipeg, a Blackhawks fan sported a fake headdress in the stands. Jordan Wheeler, a longtime Winnipeg Jets fan and season ticket holder, filed a complaint with the Jets owner, True North Sports and Entertainment. He wanted the team to ban headdresses at hockey games.

Hum, I am thinking of a comparison here. Can you think of one?

A headdress is sacred to First Nations, worn by chiefs or those who have earned the right to do so.

Wheeler, who's Cree from the George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, says no one — whether First Nations or not — should be allowed to wear a headdress to a hockey game, especially while carrying beer.